The Cold War Goal 10

The Cold War The Cold War is a war of words and actions between the US and Soviet Union. No actual battles take place. It is a race to see who can build the biggest arms and get to space first. It spans a time period from It’s is marked by the fall of the Berlin Wall I 1991.

Cold War con’t The US foreign policy when dealing with communism is containment. US people are scared of communists and began trying to wash them out of gov’t positions. This new witch hunt is called McCarthyism.

New Weapon H-Bomb US was shocked to learn that the SU tested a H-bomb less than a year after the US had developed. Schools used “duck and cover” drills. To protect themselves, many families built fallout shelters. Eisenhower cut military spending on the army and invested that money in American nuclear arsenal. US increased nuclear weapons from 1,000 to 18,000

Sputnik US built B-52 – a bomber that could fly across continents and drop nuclear bombs. US began working on (ICBM’) Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles. Oct. 1957, SU launched Sputnik – first satellite to orbit earth. US was alarmed and scared. Felt they were falling behind the SU. Congress created National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) & National Defense Education Act. NASA was to devote time to space exploration and NDEA was to concentrate on teaching science, math and foreign languages in schools.

Brinkmanship Brinkmanship – The willingness to go to the brink of war to force the other side to back down. Sec. of State John Foster Dulles defended this foreign policy. President Eisenhower needs spies to carry out covert, or hidden, operations. Congress funds the CIA – Central Intelligence Agency.

U-2 Incident The new leader in Soviet Union was Nikita Khrushchev. He had agreed to meet with President Eisenhower to discuss the arms race on May On May 1,1960 SU shot down a US U-2 Spy plane over the SU. The US denied the mission and claimed that it was a weather plane. However, the US lie did not work and they admitted that it was a spy plane but did not apologize. The SU cancelled its conference with the US set to take place in 2 weeks.

The Kennedy Years 1960 John F. Kennedy was elected as President of the US. He was young, energetic, and Catholic. Kennedy inherited a bad relationship b/t US and Soviet Union. He wants to aid foreign nations in an attempt to stop the spread of communism. He funded programs like “Special Forces”, and Peace Corps. Peace Corps provide aid to countries who asked for their assistance. They teach medical care, water preservation, English, etc.

Space Race Kennedy wanted the US to concentrate on space. He wanted the US to be the first to land a person on the moon. He said, “ this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon.” July 1969, US landed astronaut, Neil Armstrong, on the moon.

Bay of Pigs US was alarmed when Fidel Castro, overthrew the Cuban gov’t and allied itself with the SU. Pres. Eisenhower had agreed to arm and train Cuban exiles to invade the island and overthrow the Castro regime. Kennedy made a few changes and authorized the campaign. It failed for a few reasons. 1) The exiles boats were grounded on coral reefs. 2) US failed to provide air support. They didn’t want anyone to know that the US was conspiring to overthrow a neighboring gov’t. 3) The vast majority of the exiles were captured and killed.

Cuba’s Reaction – The Cuban Missile Crisis CIA, in summer of 1962, learned that Russia had missiles in Cuba pointing at US. US responds in two ways. 1) Order a blockade of Cuba. 2) Place missiles in Turkey pointing at Russia. A nuclear holocaust seemed imminent. It was a standoff b/t US and SU.

Cuban Missile Ends Soviets and US agreed to remove missiles and US agreed not to invade Cuba. US and SU sign a treaty were both sides agree to ban the testing of nuclear weapons.

Kennedy Dies Nov. 22, 1963 Kennedy and Mrs. Kennedy were in Dallas when an assassin Lee Harvey Oswald – shot and killed the President. Before he could tell his story, Oswald was shot and killed by Jack Ruby. Theories about a conspiracy have been fueled by people claiming that the gov’t, mafia, Castro, or CIA had Kennedy killed. None of these ever panned out. The gov’t, in an attempt to quell these rumors, opened an investigation called the Warren Commission to investigate his death and ruled that there was 1 killer and closed the investigation.